Chocolate
by Allyse
Summary: Becker needs a plus-one but Jess has decided to play hard to get all of a sudden. There's only one way to persuade her...


**Chocolate**

_My entry for "__C" of the A-Z Primeval FanFic Challenge_

_Who?__ Jess and Becker_

_When? Series 4: post episode 5, pre episode 6 (written when I knew Jenny's wedding would feature, but didn't quite know how.)_

* * *

><p>It was an oddly quiet afternoon in the Anomaly Research Centre. Field Co-ordinator Jess Parker sat at her work station, idly flitting through the floor plans and CCTV images on screen to check what was going on in the offices, labs and labyrinth-like corridors of the ARC.<p>

Lester was in his office, having a meeting with Matt; Abby and Connor were in one of the labs playing with Rex and, Jess hoped, _not_ squabbling for once; Philip was pacing the back corridor on his mobile phone; Captain Becker was leaving the armoury with two of his soldiers. Everyone was where they should be. Nothing to panic about.

Jess leaned back in her chair and watched the anomaly detector refresh. It scanned the islands of Great Britain quickly and efficiently and she rather liked looking down on the country as if from space, to have that sense of scale. She loved the feeling of control she got from sitting at those monitors and keeping an eye on the field officers.

"One day none of this will be ours."

Jess pursed her lips to stop herself from grinning as a familiar face appeared beside her. She kept her eyes focused on the anomaly detector and didn't look at Becker, fearing she may give away that she was pleased to see him.

"_You're being too eager,"_ Abby had said over lunch the previous week, _"Act cool,"_ she'd advised. _"Play hard to get and he'll soon come around."_

Becker, unfazed by her cold shoulder, pushed an object across the console towards her. The foil glimmered in the space-age office lighting.

"Trying to bribe me with chocolate again, are we?" She glanced sideways but Becker was purposely avoiding her gaze.

"Is it working yet?" he asked and she watched the corners of his mouth curl into a smile.

Jess hesitated and had to look away to maintain her composure before replying: "No." She pushed the chocolate bar back towards Becker with deliberate slowness, unsure which was harder to do: relinquish chocolate or refuse Becker.

She gasped when Becker grabbed the chocolate bar, her hand still curled around it. The shock made her forget Abby's advice to play it cool and she turned towards him with wide eyes.

"Please, Jess," he begged, "I need a plus-one."

"You, _need_?" she emphasised the word indignantly.

"No, no, I want. I want _you_ to be my plus-one to Jenny's wedding."

Now she was torn. She really wanted to meet Jenny: her file was a fascinating read and the others obviously had a lot of respect for her. But she remembered Abby's words about playing hard to get and frowned, confused and undecided.

"_Please_," Becker repeated, sensing her deliberation.

It took years for Abby and Connor to get together, Jess realised. She knew their files inside out. They'd known each other four years before going through that anomaly to the Cretaceous. She wasn't prepared to wait _four_ years herself, or have to go through an anomaly to anywhere.

"There'll be cake," Becker tempted.

_Play it cool, Jess. Play it cool_, she told herself.

"Fine, I'll go with you," she said to Becker, removing her hand – and the chocolate – from his grip. "But there better be more where this came from." She broke off a chunk of chocolate and popped it delicately into her mouth. "I guess I'll see you there then," she said, coolly, despite the fact that the wedding was still a week away.

Becker shook his head in bemusement. "I guess so."

He left her alone and Jess slunk down in her seat to quietly grin to herself and eat her chocolate with, slightly smug, pride. Then it suddenly dawned on her that she had only seven days to find an entire outfit suitable for the posh wedding of a PR executive.

She quickly patched through to the room adjacent to the menagerie. "Abby!" she said, in a girlie panic.

"Everything ok, Jess?" Abby asked with genuine concern.

"We need to go shopping! Like, now!"

"I'm on my way!" Abby replied with a laugh, patting a confused Connor on the shoulder on her way out.


End file.
